The Jacksonville Jaguars finished the first week of training camp with a live scrimmage that took place in Jacksonville Municipal Stadium in front of a record high 11,039 fans this evening following a light practice session in the morning. Tonight's attendance was 3,100 fans more than the 7,855 fans who attended in 2006. Quarterback Quinn Gray practiced with the team this morning after being removed from the Physically Unable to Perform list.
"I thought it was an excellent finish to what I thought was an excellent first week of training camp," said head coach Jack Del Rio following the scrimmage. "I don't know how many came tonight but it looked like it was full and the crowd was excited and we were appreciative of them coming out and supporting us like that."
Del Rio talked about the progress of the Jaguars' offense and the high level of performance from quarterback Byron Leftwich, who has returned from missing 10 games in 2006.
"What you just got a glimpse of, I think, is what our offense is going to be about this year. We're going to have an explosive offense. Byron Leftwich has had a terrific camp and the receivers, the timing, the routes, all the little details that we need to be explosive in the passing game with, I think they're really starting to come together," said Del Rio.
"I feel like it is almost my offense," said Leftwich. "I feel as though it was meant for me and coach (Dirk) Koetter to work together, because these are the type of things that I have always done before I got here. These are the type of things that made me that first round draft pick, made me that seventh pick of the draft. For him to give me the opportunity to do those type of things I just have so much respect for him. Every day I come out here I know he has all the belief in the world in me."
Second round pick Justin Durant and his fellow rookies got to participate in their first live action inside Jacksonville Municipal Stadium since joining the Jaguars in April.
"It was great. I didn't even expect this much. I wasn't exactly sure how the scrimmage was going to go. I was just excited to see all the fans and give them a chance to see what I could do," said Durant. "I got a lot more in store because I didn't play well at all in my opinion. I just got to go back to the drawing board and work on it."
Camp will continue on Saturday with a Mock Game, which is closed to the public. The team will have Sunday off before resuming training camp on Monday with practice at 11:00 a.m. (special teams) and 7:00 p.m. (shells).
